Ohio State University Medical Center has a great communications program in place just in time for Halloween.
In their own words:
“Here’s a story you can really sink your teeth into! This Halloween season, you might think of vampire bats as scary little creatures found in haunted houses. But medical researchers believe these blood-suckers could help people recover from devastating strokes. That’s because when the bats feed, their saliva keeps blood from clotting in their prey. Now, doctors are testing a drug made from bat saliva on stroke patients.”
An informative site for the media contains a press release, vampire videos, video interviews with researchers and patients, a map of vampire bat habitats, a podcast, audio, photos, and even an interactive quiz.
This campaign sure sucks the blood right out of most of the press releases we usually see around here.